This invention relates to surgical drapes and suction heads for wound treatment.
Surgical drapes are widely used in surgical operations for the purpose of reducing infection and facilitating the handling of skin around incisions. Normally, they are transparent or translucent. Typically, they consist of a flexible, plastic film which is adhesive-coated and which is applied to the area of the operation, prior to making the incision. Surgical drapes are also used for attaching treatment devices to patients after an operation, such as catheters or drainage tubes.
A further, recently developed use is for connecting a suction tube to a wound for the purpose of stimulating healing of the wound. Such use is described in our earlier applications Nos. WO 96/05873 and WO 97/18007.
Various proposals have been made in the past to design the surgical drape so that handling of the sticky, flexible, plastic film is facilitated. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,622 describes a surgical drape which is a laminate of three materials. The first material comprises a transparent, thin plastic film which is adhesive-coated and the adhesive face protected with a layer of release-coated paper. The other face of the adhesive-coated film is strengthened with a reinforcing layer of a less flexible, plastic film. Handling bars or strips are attached to the flexible, plastic film at its lateral edge to facilitate handling of the flexible, plastic film after stripping away the protective releasable layer.
Where is it is desirable to use a surgical drape primarily to attach a device such a s a catheter to a wound area after an operation or for long term treatment, it is inconvenient for the surgeon or nurse to have to adapt a standard surgical drape for this purpose. It would be more convenient to have a surgical drape which was suitable without adaptation to accommodate the treatment device.
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a solution to this problem. A second aspect provides a combined surgical drape and suction head for applying suction to a wound area to facilitate application of negative pressure therapy.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a surgical drape which comprises a thin, flexible, adhesive-coated plastic film and a strengthening layer applied to the face opposite to the adhesive coating, the strengthening layer being a plastic film which is thicker or less flexible than said adhesive-coated film, and a protective, releasable layer applied to the adhesive coating, the drape having an aperture through at least the strengthening and adhesive coated film to permit, in use, access to a wound area, a first edge of the drape having non-adhesive coated handling bars for separating the adhesive-coated film from the protective layer, and wherein the protective layer comprises a separate strip extending parallel to the first edge of the drape, and which protects the adhesive coating in the region of the aperture and carries a flap overlapping the adjacent portion of the protective layer, said flap constituting a handle for facilitating removal of said strip prior to use. Preferably, non-adhesive coated handling bars are positioned at opposite lateral edges of the drape.
In practice, surgical drapes may be manufactured by laminating an adhesive-coated flexible film, such as a polyurethane film, to a protective releasable layer, such as a siliconized paper. A strengthening layer of thicker plastic material, e.g. a polyolefin such a polyethylene, may be applied to the non-adhesive coated face of the flexible film, so that a three-layer laminate is produced. These laminates are produced in substantial width and may be slit longitudinally to the desired width and then laterally to form drapes of the desired size.
After slitting to a desired width, handling bars are normally applied to the adhesive-coated layers at one or both lateral edges to facilitate separation of the film from the protective, releasable layer. While an aperture could be cut at the desired position through the layers to accommodate a catheter or a device such as those described in our above-mentioned applications, it is difficult to handle the highly pliable and adhesive film after the releasable layer has been stripped off.
Although the strengthening layer does somewhat improve the handling characteristics, this is not a complete answer to the problem. However, the handling characteristics are substantially improved by providing a protective layer which is in at least two portions, one of which is in the form of a strip, e.g. one extending parallel to the lateral edges of the drape, and covering the peripheral area around the aperture through the drape. By providing a flap on this portion of the releasable layer, it can be stripped off initially so that the drape is first positioned around the device which is to pass through the aperture, and then the remaining part of the protective releasable layer is stripped off to adhere the drape to the patient""s skin around the area to be treated.
In a preferred form of the invention in which negative pressure therapy is applied to a wound area, the surgical drape described above is combined with a suction head having a connector piece which is adapted to be connected to a suction tube. Thus, in this embodiment, the suction head can be adhered to the patient""s skin in the area of the wound after removing the strip of protective releasable layer, and then the remaining part of the drape affixed to the patient""s skin. In this way, the suction head is held firmly in place and, at the same time, seals the suction head to the wound area and prevents leakage of air from atmosphere into the wound area.
The invention also includes a suction head having a design which facilitates the suction of fluid from a wound area.
According to a further feature of the invention, therefore, there is provided a suction head for applying suction to a wound area which comprises a generally planar flange portion and a tubular connector piece on a first face, for connecting a suction tube to an aperture through the flange portion to the other face, said other face having projections defining flow channels facilitating flow of fluid towards said aperture.
Preferably, the suction head described above is combined with a surgical drape, the drape comprising a thin, flexible, adhesive-coated plastic film, and the tubular connector piece extends through an opening in the plastic film with the adhesive coating adhered to said first face of the flange portion.
Preferably, the suction head is used in conjunction with an open-celled foam pad so that one surface of the foam pad is placed in contact with a wound area and the suction head applied to the other surface of the foam pad. In the case of deep wounds the foam may be shaped and placed so that it is packed into the wound cavity as described in our above-cited PCT applications. According to another technique, which is particularly applicable to superficial wounds, the foam pad may be a relatively thin pad which is placed over the wound. The suction head is placed in contact with the open face of the foam pad and the drape applied over the suction head to fix the assembly to the patient""s skin.
Various types of open celled foams can be used as described in our above-cited PCT applications. The foam may be a polyurethane foam but polyvinyl acetate (PVA) foams are preferred, especially when used as a pad which placed over the wound. These are to some extent hydrophilic, which seems to exhibit beneficial comfort properties when applied to the skin. Wound healing is stimulated by maintenance of moist conditions in the wound area, and this is facilitated by using a hydrophilic foam.
Finally, many other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts, especially in light of the foregoing discussions and the following drawings, exemplary detailed description and appended claims.